Kirsty McNeill

Kirsty McNeill is Save the Children's Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns. She leads Save the Children's programmes supporting families across the four nations of the UK and teams delivering award-winning policy, advocacy, campaigns and media on climate, inequality, poverty, conflict, health, education, hunger and nutrition.

Previously, she founded a consultancy advising some of the world’s leading social purpose organisations and spent three years as a Special Adviser in Number 10. She came to Downing Street having led the policy and influencing work of DATA, Bono and Bob Geldof’s advocacy organisation, in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and the EU institutions. 

Before joining DATA she was a driving force behind Make Poverty History, serving on the steering group and writing the coalition’s flagship policy report, acting as a national media spokesperson and creating a 225,000 strong rally in Edinburgh. At the same time, she managed the Stop AIDS Campaign, successfully negotiating a commitment to universal access to AIDS treatment from the 2005 G8.

Today she chairs the Civic Power Fund, Larger Us and the Aid Alliance and serves as a non-exec director on the boards of the Climate Coalition, the Labour Climate and Environment Forum, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and IPPR and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. She is a regular public commentator on power, politics and policy, having written for outlets including the Telegraph, Times, Observer and New Statesman. She tweets at @kirstyjmcneill.